After stumbling upon a YouTube clip in high school, Joachim Sutton set the gears in motion to become one of the first Danish rowers to compete for an American collegiate program.

 "I did not know about college rowing at all before I came here," Sutton said. "I had no idea that programs across America would be stacked with such amazing rowers and that the competition was so intense."

Although Cal has a long tradition of rowers from across the globe, Sutton became the first Dane to join the team when he arrived in Berkeley in the fall of 2015.

"I am the first Danish male rower that I know of to come here so that left me without anyone to talk to and seek advice from," Sutton said. "But I knew I wanted the experience so I was looking online for schools in the U.S. with rowing and came across Cal."

The native of Rosklide, Denmark raced at both the U19 and U23 World Rowing Championships in past years and has expanded his international rowing aspirations since joining the Golden Bears.

"Denmark is a very small country with an even smaller rowing scene," said Sutton, who measures in at 6-6, 210 pounds. "We have a great tradition of lightweight rowing but we have yet to make a tradition of heavyweight rowing. I hope to help change that once I graduate from Cal and return to Denmark."

The training culture at Cal has provided a whole new level of competition for Sutton.

"We are very fortunate to have a very deep and talented team, which pushes you because if you have an off day you will simply lose in practice," he said. "The everyday competitiveness creates an amazing environment."

Now an integral part of the team, Sutton barely knew about the storied history of California crew and the strong alumni connections before stepping on campus.

"You quickly realize how deep the Cal crew family is and how much the program has meant for people," Sutton said. "It is amazing how much support we have and when we race, you don't even race for yourself but for something much bigger."

Joachim got off to a great start academically at Cal with a 3.2 GPA in his freshmen year and earned a spot in the IRA National Champion varsity eight during the 2016 spring season. He then capped off his impressive freshmen year with the Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year award.

"Being Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year definitely gave me even more motivation than I had before, and it helped boost my confidence as a rower," Sutton said. "The personal acknowledgement helped me to think of my place on the team as legitimized."

Though honored by the personal award, Sutton knows true recognition comes in the form of team success.

"I don't look for individual awards or acknowledgement, of course if that happens great – but only as a bi-product of what our team is trying to achieve," he said.

The ultimate goal? "To repeat as national champions at the IRAs," Sutton said.

The Golden Bears' national championship title defense begins on April 1st when they head to San Diego for the San Diego Crew Classic, where they hope to build on their 2016 successes on Mission Bay.

Follow along all season on twitter and Instagram from @CaliforniaCrew